The values espoused by Rob are not to be taken lightly.
Quality & Value - If you really want to know, Sears is the place to get quality at the best price. First off, they have their own major brands, Diehard, Kenmore, and Craftsman.
-Diehard: You can look at Consumer Reports and see that the Diehard Platinum car battery beats all other batteries hands down no contest. Only Sears sells it.
-Kenmore: This one brand, found only within the Sears Holdings Corporation, is found in a majority of United States homes. Sears has the largest market share in appliances buy far and much of that success comes from owning the Kenmore brand. Much of it is made by Whirlpool, the makers of such brands as Maytag, Amana, Jenn-air, and Kitchen-Aid. The thing is, you can buy a Kenmore with all of the same features as the other major appliance brands for hundreds of dollars less, and only at Sears Holdings!
Craftsman - Their hand tools have been in America's garages since 1927. Craftsman, the flagship tool (and lawn & garden) brand of Sears owns the dominant market share across the board and consistently has Consumer Reports best buys every year without fail. Whether it's a drill or a lawn tractor, if it's labeled Craftsman you are getting premium features and quality for an amazing price. The hand tools are covered by a lifetime warranty (if you want to talk ratchet repair, see my post on the "CRAFSTMAN HAND TOOL REPLACEMENT POLICY?" thread) and are trusted by tens of millions of Americans for their everyday tasks. These tools are proudly passed down generations and given as gifts every year.
Trust - America needs a retailer they can trust. Sears Holdings Corporation right now is trying very hard to reach out to the community for suggestions and help, and while some are helpful, many are reluctant and distant. Much of the business Sears thrives on are the people who have been raised going to Sears, and this market is dwindling away as more and more consumers lose brand and retailer loyalty as they try to stretch every dollar. Sears is outreaching to the public because even those at the top know very simply that if it weren't for the customer they would be out of the job. So what incentive do they have to lose customers over shady business practices? NONE!
I'll relate this to when I was in commissioned sales. Customers would ask me if they really needed a product/feature/service that I was offering them. I would then explain the benefits (cost/time savings) of what I was selling and asked them if they thought it was worth it. I told them straight up that my commission was dependent on my customers keeping what I sell them. If I oversell a customer, not only do I very likely get it returned, but I also lose that customer for a very long time, if not forever. Where is the monetary benefit? There is none, only monetary loss.
That is why customers came back repeatedly to buy from me, even recommending friends. Because I built a bond of trust and repore with them by selling them what they need, and not by trying to empty their wallet every sale. Now as a manager, I still treat the customer as I did before, taking care of their needs and concerns.
Forgive the verbose talk on trust, it's just that trust is the most important element in a retailer's representation to a customer.
What is the whole point of this website? To reach out to the community, gauge customer reactions/complaints/suggestions, and to steer the company in the right direction in these changing times. Sears is trying to honestly ask you posters what they need to do and represent to EARN your business, because any retailer knows that you can't expect sales nowadays to fall into your lap, they need to work for them.
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